Page 6 - Atlantic Side News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

On the atlantic side of the keys, chris. >> no, not a good situation and that's to put it as mildly as possible. you have two components, you have survival of the storm and the conditions that you're about to see coming your way and then you have enduring the aftermath of the storm services, infrastructure, ability to live life. what do you think on that level, bill, are they ready down there? >> reporter: we can only hope so, right? they live in sort of mortal worry about being cut off from the mainland, the tide line, the extension cord of power that connects miami-dade down to the rest of t...

Hour, all the power is out. it is definitely windy. >> if you can hear us, with the data you have, what are you most concerned about with regard to arm up? >> where most concerned with the storm surge because there's only a few points in elevation. we are getting between the gold side of the atlantic side. it will approach us on both sides. people are more concerned about the gold side of the wall of water coming down the shore. it is going to wobble at east to west. or it could head off to the northwest. jackie: how do you protect yourself and when you say enough is enough?

Be dramatic. we're set up here to be safe. the scary part about it is that the wind was predictable for the last few hours. it was coming from the atlantic side. we're on the other side here, hunkered in. biscayne bay is over there. it's getting so squirrely now as it's whipping around and coming through and creating a wind tunnel effect here. all the power is out in the florida keys. no surprise there. they're super worried about losing a bridge. that's the main concern of the people down here. you have to understand, they know storms in the keys. an average of one hurricane every four years ...

What's the situation? >> reporter: i can hear you, chris. it's really cranking up here as irma huffs and puffs and tries to blow us all down. i've become increasingly thankful for building codes in south florida, many of them stiffened after hurricane andrew. we are hunkered down in a concrete -- whoa, condominium complex. i just saw a huge branch come snapping off this tree right around the corner. we don't want to move our camera out to the spot to show you but take my word for it, irma is trimming all the trees in this neighborhood. right now, it's blinding sheets of rain and we are on the ...

Steady tropical storm force winds and hurricane force gusts, we're beginning to see roof damage and pieces of roof coming off, and trees are just getting shredded. you know, just imagine taking a tree and stripping it out of all its leaves. that's what this constant wind has been doing to foliage that's around the area. we have not only seen all that wind, water damage but wind as well. >> sam, thank you very much for that. as you're talking, we're able to see the bands coming through. we keep making the point, the storm is not yet parallel on the gulf side to where sam is on the atlantic side...